1408 ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART III. 



of June. They ought to be gathered with the hand before they drop, us from 

 their lightness and winged appendages, they are very apt to be blown away by 

 the wind. The seeds may either be sown as soon as gathered, in which case, 

 man) plants will come up the same season; or they may be thinly spread out 

 to dry in the shade, and afterwards put up into bags or boxes, and kept in a 

 dry place till the following March or April. Sang directs the seeds to be 

 chosen from the tallest and most erect and healthy trees ; on the sound 

 principle, that plants, like animals, convey to their progeny their appearance 

 and habits, whether good or bad. Trees, therefore, though having abundance 

 of seeds, if they be either visibly diseased, or ill formed, should be passed over 

 by the collector. Elm seeds should be gathered the moment they are ripe, which 

 i> readily known by their beginning to fall. If the gathering is delayed for a 

 single daj . the seed is liable to be blown off, and scattered by the slightest gale. 

 (Plant. CaL % p. 412.) The seeds, whether sown immediately when gathered, 

 or in the follow tng spring, ought to be deposited in light or friable rich soil, and 

 very thinly, in order that the plants that rise from them may be strong and vigo- 

 rous. If they rise too thickly the first year, they are for several years after sensi- 

 bly affected, continuing weak, although carefully thinned out. The best form in 

 which the seed can be deposited is in beds ; and the covering of soil should 

 not be more than £ in. thick. (Id., p. 283.) The plants may be transplanted 

 into nursery lines, either at the age of one or two years; and they may be 

 grafted the following spring. If not intended to be grafted, they may go 

 through a regular course of nursery culture, till they have attained the desired 

 height ; and they will transplant readily at 20ft. or 25 ft., though not nearly 

 so well at that size as the U. campestris. Few plants succeed more readily 

 by grafting than the elm ; so much so, that when the graft is made close to 

 the surface of the soil, and the scion tied on with matting, the mere earthing 

 up of the plants from the soil in the intervals between the rows will serve as 

 a substitute for claying. The graft, in our opinion, should always be made 6 in. 

 or bin. above the collar, in order to lessen the risk of the scion, when it 

 becomes a tree, throwing out roots; which, in the case of all the varieties of 

 I '. campestris, would become troublesome by their suckers. 



Statistics, Recorded Trees. Cook ( Forest Trees, pref. p. xiv.) mentions a wych dm, which was 



felled in Sir Walter Bigot's Park, in Staffordshire, which was 120ft. high, with a trunk 17 ft. in di- 

 ami ter at the surface of the ground. It required two men five days to fell it; after which it lay 40 yards 

 in length, and was at the stool 17 ft. in diameter. Itbroke,in thefall, 141oadsof wood \ and had 48 loads 

 in the head. It jrielded 8 pairs of naves ; 8660 ft. of boards 

 and planks ; and the whole was esteemed to weigh 97 tons. 

 The Tutburjf wych elm is mentioned, in Shaw's Stajjfbrd- 

 forming a magnificent feature, both in the near 

 and distant prospect. Strut t, who has given an engraving 

 of this tree, Of which fig. 1248. is a reduced copy, to the 

 scale of 1 in. to 50ft. describe* it as having a trunk 12 ft. 

 long, and 16ft "in. in < ircumference at the height of 5 ft. 

 from the ground. The trunk divides, at the height of 12 ft., 

 ■ bet, which are nearly 50 ft high, and 

 extend between 50 ft. and 60ft. from the centre of the tree, 

 CUbic feet Of timber. This tree exists 

 Still, and the dimension* and contents given by Strutt 



: i onfirmed t" us by Thomas Turner, Esq., Sud- 



I be wych elm at BagOt'S Mill is also figured hy 



that it is a treemore remark- 



The largest elms which are known certainly to belong to the 

 I', montana are supposed to be in Scotland. The following dimensions are taken from 



I ' ndat ; an<i the reader may rely on their being of trees of the true U. montana. On 



Huntfy, there are several line Scotch dins, which girt, at:; ft. from the ground, 

 t 11 ft. ' 



i "I in 1796 ; and its girt, at 4 ft. from the surface of the ground, was 30 ft. 



. OH the lawn at. i'.iymoui h Castle, girted, in September, 1814, 15ft. Din. {Song's Nicol's 



In Inland, the wych, or native Irish elm, appears tO grow With great vigour. 



mentions Six 're. -, produced from layer, from the stole of a tree felled lor that purpose, which 



from 8ft, II in. tO 1 ft 'i in. at 5ft. from the itoiiikI. Three out, of these six 



Mh, cut into IS in. plan l'. s. [Pract, Hints on Plant., p. L62.) A Scotch 

 or its fantastic 1 Igurea in kfonteith's Forester's Quiae, pi. 12., and said 



U ol Touch, Stirlingshire. "My reason for giving a figure of this tree," says 



• » demon tratlon the differeni crooks and shapes that, by a timely 



tl '.i 'r<' ,'thej could be brought to grow to. The crooked branch or this tree 



ona been thi but was kept down, I am told, by children swinging upon 



i; < ij h , trill w seen by looking al the dimensions, been brought to form 



iiiinuy, mere are several nne dcoicii eims, wnicll gut, at:; It. lrom trie ground, 



t II (t. At Lord Morton's, Aberdour, Fife, there is a Scotch elm, which measured, March 10. 



i| bole, and in girt 1 1 ft, 6 in. Two elms, at Yair, in Selkirkshire, girt each, at the 



Ceof the ground, (3 ft. An elm tree, in the parish of Roxburgh, in Teviotdale, called the 



